How to split a cell into multiple rows or columns based on a character/a word/carriage return?

Supposing you have a single cell which contains multiple contents separated by a specific character, for instance, semicolon, and then you want to split this long cell into multiple rows or columns based on the semicolon, in this case, do you have any quick ways to solve it in Excel?

Split a cell into multiple columns or rows with Text to Column function

In Excel, to use the Text to Column function is a good way to split a single cell.

1. Select the cell you want to split into multiple columns, and then click Data > Text to Columns. See screenshot:

2. Then in the Step 1 of the wizard, check Delimited option, see screenshot:

3. Click Next > button to go to Step 2 of the wizard, check Semicolon checkbox only. See screenshot:

4. Go on click Next > to the Step 3 of wizard, and click to select a cell to put the split result. See screenshot:

5. Click Finish, you can see the single cell is split into multiple columns.

Tip: If you want to split a cell based on a character into multiple rows, after finishing above steps, you need to go on below steps:

1. After splitting the data into multiple columns, select this column cells, and press Ctrl + C to copy them.

2. Then select a blank cell, and right click to select Paste Special from the context menu. See screenshot:

3. Then in the Paste Special dialog, check All in Paste section, and None in Operation section, and then check Transpose checkbox. See screenshot:

4. Click OK. Now the single cell has been split into multiple rows.

Split a cell into multiple columns or rows with Kutools for Excel

If you have Kutools for Excel installed, you can use the Split Cells utility to quickly and easily split a single cell into multiple columns or rows based on a character, a word, or carriage return without the long and troublesome steps.

For example, here is a single cell with contents separated by a word “KTE”, now you need to split the cell based on the word into multiple cells.

Kutools for Excel,with more than 120 handy Excel functions, enhance your working efficiency and save your working time.

1. Select the single cell you want to split into rows/columns, and click Kutools > Text > Split Cells. See screenshot:

2. In the Split Cells dialog, check the split type you want in the Type section, and the check Other checkbox and type the word you want to split based on into the textbox in Specify a separator section. See screenshot:

3. Click Ok, and select a cell to output the result.

4. Click OK. Now the single cell has been converted to multiple rows.

Tip:

1. IF you want to split cell to multiple columns, just need to check Split to Columns option and then specify the separator in the Split Cells dialog.

2. If you want to split cell based on carriage return, check New line in the Split Cells dialog.

With Split Cells of Kutools for Excel, whatever you want to separate cell based on, you can quickly solve it.